10 The Secret Identity of the Thin Prefect

10. THE SECRET IDENTITY OF THE THIN PREFECT The Kidnappers threw the boys over their shoulders again and strode through several large courtyards, busy with soldiers and cooks and horses and people selling things to each other. They walked up some steps and through a door into a brightly lit, gorgeously painted room. This was the Consul's Palace. Tapestries hung from the walls, couches were draped in silken covers, the mosaic floor was warm and toasty underfoot. The Romans certainly knew how to make themselves comfy. In one corner of the room, the Fat Consul was having his tonsils tickled with a feather so he could vomit and fit in some more Monstrous Nightmare Crème Br.lée for pudding. In another, the Thin Prefect was having his temples massaged. He looked up when they came in and gave an 'Aha!' of evil satisfaction. At the Prefect's feet lay a particularly large Gronckle, a dragon about two metres high with a spiny ruff around its neck. When they came into the

10. 瘦弱级长的秘密身份绑架者又把孩子们扛在肩上，大步穿过几个大院子，院子里忙着士兵、厨师、马匹和互相卖东西的人。 他们走上台阶，穿过一扇门，进入了一间灯光明亮、装饰华丽的房间。 这是执政官的宫殿。 墙上挂着挂毯，沙发上铺着丝质的床罩，铺着马赛克的地板，脚下暖烘烘的。 罗马人当然知道如何让自己舒适。 在房间的一个角落里，胖执政官正在用一根羽毛挠他的扁桃体，这样他就可以呕吐，然后再吃一些怪物噩梦。葡萄干布丁。 在另一个房间里，瘦级长正在让人按摩太阳穴。 他们进来时，他抬起头来，“啊哈！”邪恶的满足。 在级长脚下躺着一条特别大的龙颈龙，它大约有两米高，脖子上有一个带刺的环状物。 当他们走进

room it heaved its enormous bulk on to its thick muscly legs and an ominous growling began deep in its thick bull neck. It leaped at the First Kidnapper, who dropped Fishlegs with a scream. 'Stop!' shouted the Thin Prefect in Dragonese. Very poor Dragonese, but Dragonese nonetheless. The Gronckle had grabbed the First Kidnapper by the leg in his immense jaws, and the First Kidnapper uselessly drummed his fists on the gigantic creature's great, warty back. The Gronckle had been enjoying itself, gnawing away at the Kidnapper's knee, its great tail lashing from side to side; but at the Thin Prefect's command it reluctantly stopped. 'Think you.' The Thin Prefect had a terrible accent and he kept on getting the words wrong. 'You can hold on to the Kidnapper now.' The Gronckle didn't move. 'I said "Hold on to him!"' shouted the Thin Prefect crossly. The Gronckle blinked at him and still didn't move. 'Oh for Thor's sake, you stupid alligator…' swore the Thin Prefect in Norse. From his pocket he

它把巨大的身躯抬到它粗壮的肌肉腿上，一声不祥的咆哮从它粗壮的牛脖子深处开始。 它向第一个绑架者扑去，后者尖叫着扔下了鱼腿。 “停!瘦削的级长用龙语喊道。 很可怜的龙人，但还是龙人。 咕噜狼用它的大嘴咬住了第一个绑架者的腿，第一个绑架者用拳头打在这个庞然大物长满疣子的大背上，但无济于事。 咕噜咕噜一直在玩得很开心，不停地咬着绑架者的膝盖，它的大尾巴左右摇摆着；但在瘦级长官的命令下，它不情愿地停了下来。 “想你”。瘦弱的级长口音很重，他总是把单词念错。 “你现在可以抓住绑架者了。”咕噜声没有动。 “我说‘抓住他！’”瘦削的级长生气地喊道。 咕噜怪对他眨了眨眼睛，仍然一动不动。 “哦，看在托尔的份上，你这个愚蠢的短吻鳄……”瘦削的长官用挪威语咒骂道。 他从口袋里掏出

got out his half of How to Speak Dragonese and started flicking through it, muttering to himself, 'Release, release– what's the word for release?' 'I think you'll find the word is "release", sir?' advised Hiccup politely. 'Thank you,' sneered the Thin Prefect. '"Release",' he said to the Gronckle, who opened its jaws and the Kidnapper dropped, sprawling on to the floor. 'As you can see,' drawled the Thin Prefect, 'I need the other half of your book, Hiccup.' Hiccup tried not to look as terrified as he felt. 'How do you know my name?' he asked. 'And why are we speaking in Norse, not in Latin?' The Thin Prefect smiled. 'We have met before, you see, Hiccup, many, many times. Why don't you look a little closer?' Hiccup looked up into the Thin Prefect's eyes, and he gasped as he finally realised who it was. The man was bald; completely hairless all over. Even his eyelashes had disappeared. But bald as he was, and dressed in a toga, this was definitely Hiccup's arch-enemy– Alvin the Treacherous, Chief of the Outcast Tribe and the wickedest man in the Inner Isles.

掏出他那一半的《如何说龙语》，开始翻看，一边喃喃自语：“释放，释放——释放这个词叫什么？”“我想你会发现这个词是‘释放’吧，先生？”小嗝嗝礼貌地建议道。 “谢谢你。”瘦削的级长讥笑道。 “‘释放’。”他对咕噜咕噜说，咕噜咕噜张开了嘴巴，把绑架者扑倒在地。 “你也看到了，”瘦削的级长慢吞吞地说，“我需要你那本书的另一半，小嗝嗝。”小嗝嗝尽量不让自己显得那么害怕。 “你怎么知道我的名字？”他问。 “为什么我们说挪威语，而不是拉丁语？”瘦级长笑了。 “我们以前见过面，你知道，小嗝嗝，很多很多次。 你为什么不凑近一点看呢？”小嗝嗝抬头看着瘦级长的眼睛，终于认出是谁，他倒吸了一口气。 那人秃顶；全身完全无毛。 连他的睫毛都不见了。 尽管他秃顶，穿着长袍，但这绝对是小嗝嗝的死敌——背信弃义的阿尔文，被放逐部落的首领，内岛最邪恶的人。

'So,' hissed Alvin, 'we meet AGAIN, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third…' Hiccup and Fishlegs gazed at him in utter astonishment. The last time they had seen Alvin he had been inside the stomach of the Monstrous Strangulator at the bottom of the underground sea- cavern.* How on earth had he got out of THAT tricky situation? And what was he doing posing as a Roman? 'I see you are wondering,' smiled Alvin nastily, 'how I got myself out of THAT tricky situation?' Fishlegs and Hiccup nodded. 'It's an interesting story,' spat Alvin, his eyes hissing with fury. 'I know you'll enjoy it… I cut myself out of the stomach of the dead Monstrous Strangulator with my sword, and then since you had so kindly ABANDONED me without any dragons I couldn't get out of the cavern by the sea…' 'We didn't abandon you!' squeaked Fishlegs. 'We didn't know you were alive! How could we know?' Alvin ignored him. '…so I had no choice but to go through the Caliban Caves. THREE WHOLE

“那么，”阿尔文嘶嘶地说，“我们又见面了，嗝嗝可怕的黑线鳕三世……”嗝嗝和鱼腿惊讶地看着他。 他们最后一次见到阿尔文，是在海底洞穴底部的怪物扼杀者的肚子里。*他到底是怎么摆脱那个棘手的局面的？ 他为什么要假扮成罗马人？ “我看你在想，”阿尔文恶狠狠地笑着说，“我是怎么摆脱那种棘手局面的？”鱼腿和嗝嗝点了点头。 “这是一个有趣的故事，”阿尔文吐了口唾沫，他的眼睛因愤怒而嘶嘶作响。 “我知道你会喜欢的……我用我的剑把自己从死去的怪物掐死者的肚子里割了出来，既然你这么好心地抛弃了我，没有带龙，我就出不了海边的山洞……”鱼腿尖声说。 “我们不知道你还活着！”我们怎么知道呢？”阿尔文没有理睬他。 所以我别无选择，只能穿过卡利班洞穴。 三个

MONTHS it took me, creeping through the darkness, eating little cavern dragons raw, licking the walls for water… and then when I finally emerged into the light on your vile little island and stole a ship back to my own land, what happens? My own people SHUN me– they refuse to have me as their Chief! Because down there in the darkness, in the vile belly of that Strangulator… something happened to me…' Alvin's voice became more and more savage. 'The stomach juices of that infernal creature have made my hair fall out. And whoever has heard of a hairless Viking? I was thrown out of my own Tribe and forced into exile. Luckily, I have some Roman blood on my mother's father's side… and the Empire has use for a clever person like myself. I told them I had thought of a way they could conquer the Vikings by turning the Tribes against each other.' 'TRAITOR!' yelled Fishlegs. 'Exactly,' smiled Alvin. 'And I also have my own plans for a… DRAGON ARMY.' Alvin drew his right arm out of his toga for the first time. An arm that ended not in a hand but in a huge curved HOOK made out of the most brilliant gold. 'I made this hook,' he said casually, 'out of a

我花了几个月的时间，在黑暗中爬行，生吃洞穴里的小龙，舔墙取水……当我终于出现在你那可恶的小岛上的光明里，偷了一艘船回到我自己的土地上时，发生了什么？ 我自己的人民不喜欢我——他们拒绝让我做他们的首领！因为在黑暗中，在那个绞杀者的卑鄙肚子里……我出了什么事……” “那个恶魔的胃液使我的头发都掉光了。 谁听说过无毛的维京人？ 我被赶出了自己的部落，被迫流亡。 幸运的是，我祖祖辈辈有罗马血统，帝国需要像我这样聪明的人。 我告诉他们，我想到了一个办法，可以让他们征服维京人，那就是让各部落自相残杀。“叛徒!鱼腿大叫。 “没错，”阿尔文笑着说。“我也有我自己的……龙军队计划。”阿尔文第一次把右臂从长袍里抽出来。 那只手臂的末端不是手，而是一个用最闪亮的黄金制成的巨大的弧形钩子。 “我做了这个钩子，”他漫不经心地说，“用

single cup of that Treasure. It was the only thing I could carry through the Caliban Caves. But I want the rest of it– I need the rest of it… 'With a DRAGON ARMY I can get the Treasure,' continued Alvin. 'The dragons can swim down and bring it up for me. But you know what I need first, Hiccup…' Alvin drew the point of his hook right against Hiccup's chest. 'I need the other half of that book of yours, How to Speak Dragonese. I need that book to command the dragons in my Dragon Army. Where is your half of the book, Hiccup? If you tell me I will let

一杯那种珍宝。 这是我穿越卡利班洞穴时唯一能带着的东西。 但是我想要剩下的——我需要剩下的……“有了龙的军队，我就能得到宝藏。” “龙可以游到下面，帮我把它捞上来。 但你知道我首先需要什么，小嗝嗝……”阿尔文把他的拳尖对准了小嗝嗝的胸口。 “我需要你那本书的另一半，《怎样说龙语》。 我需要那本书来指挥我的龙军。 你那一半书呢，小嗝嗝？ 如果你告诉我，我会让